


Unhuman Nature

by castivak



Series: Whumptober 2020 [6]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Gen, Hurt Connor (Detroit: Become Human), New Jericho (Detroit: Become Human), Post-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:48:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26873206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castivak/pseuds/castivak
Summary: it had been the tenth coughing fit today; hank was counting them, noticing that some were weak and wheezy whilst others were rough and you could hear it echoing through connor's chest, like the plastic he was made up of was rattling.
Relationships: Connor & Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson & Connor
Series: Whumptober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947061
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60





	Unhuman Nature

**Author's Note:**

> Day Six : Coughing Up Blood
> 
> yes this is literally what happened to jack in early s14 but with an android vibe, get over it.
> 
> and yes this is late, get over it.
> 
> i also put in minor connor/markus because i love them so fucking much but its so fuckimg faint that it's barely there. also this is the worst ending ever but Whatever Bro.

it had been the tenth coughing fit today; hank was counting them, noticing that some were weak and wheezy whilst others were rough and you could hear it echoing through connor's chest, like the plastic he was made up of was rattling.  
  
"connor." the lieutenant called, the android turning his head away from his desk monitor and over to hank, his face flushed a little blue from the strain the minor coughing fit, much like a human's skin would go red, "you got an android cold or something?" he asked and connor shook his head, clearing his throat before speaking, "i'm fine, my cooling fans may be a little clogged up and might require some cleaning. not to mention that androids don't get sick, lieutenant."  
  
hank was still skeptical, but despite knowing connor for nearly two years now, he still didn't know enough about androids to keep pushing, so he nodded and went back to work.  
  


**•◇•**   
  


connor stirred awake from his stasis as he coughed weakly, feeling and hearing his cooling fans stammer inside him as something messed with them, causing rougher coughs to rack through him and he tried to be quiet, not wanting to wake up hank who was asleep down the hall, but his systems were trying to get rid of something and it was fighting back.  
  
connor sat up in his bed, pressing the back of his hand against his mouth as he continued to cough, wanting to muffle the sound as he felt something rising in his throat, letting out a wet cough and feeling liquid splatter against his knuckles, pulling his hand away and seeing his own thirium staining his artificial skin, not getting much time to process it before more heavy and wet coughs shook through him, sending more sprays of thirium out of his mouth and splashing across his skin, some landing on the sheets and causing a mess.  
  
if hank saw this, he'd go fucking crazy.  
  
connor scrambled out of his bed, grabbing a dark tshirt from his laundry and using it to wipe his hand and arm, also dabbing at the sheets to try and prevent the thirium from soaking in, while these patches would evaporate in three hours, the possibility of spreading the blue blood around wasn't something he wanted to happen, not to mention that if sumo licked his hand or the sheets, they'd need to get him to a vet as thirium is toxic to all household pets.  
  
so, connor struggled to remove as much of the liquid as possible with the dirty shirt before he very carefully sneaked out of his bedroom, doing his best not to make any noise or bump into sumo who was anxiously following him, having heard the android coughing and wanting to know what was happening, before going into the laundry room and he buried the shirt at the bottom of the pile, knowing that it wouldn't be visible and the thirium would evaporate by the time it was thrown in the wash, just wanting the clothing out of his room and away from hank's sight until it was safe to see.  
  
the android ducked into the bathroom, going to wash his hands and forearm of the mild staining that the thirium left behind, scrubbing at his skin and successfully removing it after a few minutes, looking at himself the mirror and noticing the thirium staining his lips and he used a piece of toilet to wipe it away before flushing it down, connor'a gaze returning to the mirror, looking at his still relaxed blue led and the slight pale looking to his skin.  
  
while he didn't have the exact same skin tints that humans did, it was really close and the small loss of color was noticeable, his face looking like when a human's when they were ill.  
  
connor's led spun a soft yellow as he ran a diagnostic, hoping to get something fixable back but only receiving a " _no errors detected_ " message in his HUD, confusing him as whatever just happened was definitely error worthy, but the problem seemed to be cleared away now and he returned to his room, giving sumo a few pets as he settled back down into the dog bed in the corner of connor's room, trying to soothe him back into a comfortable sleep.  
  
connor laid down in his bed, burying under the covers and ignoring the slight ache in his chest.  
  


**•◇•**   
  


"alright, alright, i'll send the shit to fowler." hank muttered, getting a triumphant smile from connor who had been bugging him about filing case-related paperwork over to captain fowler for finalizing, proud of himself for annoying the man into doing his job, "thank you, lieutenant." he smiled as he turned back to his computer, coughing a little after speaking and holding his hand over his mouth, relieved that he didn't feel any thirium splatter onto his hand.

sadly, that had become a more common occurrence over the past week, but he had managed to keep it hidden from everyone and his systems still said everything was fine, so he was fine.......for now.  
  
"remind me to get you a fuckin' barrel of cough drops on our way home."  
  
"i'm _fine_. besides, those wouldn't do anything for me."  
  
"you sound like ass, but sure, keep saying that you're fine."  
  
"my system says that everything is fine, therefore i am." connor added and hank hummed, hoping that meant that the subject was going to be dropped now and they could move back to their work; connor's body has other ideas though and another coughing fit slammed into him, starting off as subtle wheezy ones that quickly got wet and rough.  
  
connor tried to get out of his desk chair, wanting to get to the bathroom and get through this coughing fit alone, feeling several pairs of eyes on him and he hated it, not able to make it away from his desk before a large splash of thirium escaped his throat, staining his hand; "connor, are you _sure_ you're okay?" hank asked and the android turned to look at him, led shining a bright blue despite the pain in his chest and the fear coursing through him, knowing that he couldn't hide anything any longer and he slowly removed his hand from his mouth, hank getting a good look at a blue blood stained palm and lips.  
  
"i-i......" connor stammered, grabbing onto the desk as his legs began to shake and he felt thirium leak from his nose, "i don't feel well." he breathed out before an emergency stasis warning flashed in his vision, barely hearing hank's panicked shout before he crumpled to the floor.  
  


**•◇•**   
  


hank paced in the hallway of the medical wing of new jericho, having been waiting for information on connor's condition with markus for almost an hour now, their anxieties rising more with each minute; "what's taking so fuckin' long?" hank muttered, looking at the closed door that connor and simon were on the other side of, hating that he couldn't be there to see what was happening.  
  
"we see a lot of things at jericho, but whatever connor is dealing with seems complicated."  
  
hank opened with mouth to reply to markus' comment, but the sound of the door opening stopped him and he backed away as simon stepped out, getting the quickest glance of connor laid out on a hospital bed with the blue blood still staining his mouth before the door was shut, if hank tried hard enough then he could convince himself that connor was just asleep and nothing was wrong.  
  
markus was the first to speak, wanting the tense silence to be gone, "did you find anything?"  
  
simon stammered for a moment, "i looked as much as i could, but i don't know what's wrong with him." he sighed, looking defeated and guilty, "well, we'll be able to figure it out, right?" hank commented almost immediately, simon going to respond but a loud thud caught everyone's attention, their gazes moving to the closed door behind them, "connor?" markus called as he walked towards them room, opening it and seeing connor collpased on the ground, curled up on his side and seizing, thirium sluggishly leaking from his mouth as he choked and cough.  
  
"connor!"  
  


**•••**   
  


markus has seen his fair share of stomach turning events, even after the revolution and as androids got more and more rights; of course, he was nowhere near "used to it", the sight of someone coated in their own thirium was still incredibly jarring.  
  
but now, he had to see connor, who was someone he held very dear to his heart, was fighting for his fucking life as he was hooked up to sci-fi movie machines and android medical experts picked at his biocomponents and broke down his coding by every single letter and number, trying to figure out why his system was denying the fact that he was choking up his own thirium supply.  
  
it was horrifying, honestly, only able to watch through a thick glass window as connor was examined, hank sitting on a chair nearby as he couldn't handle watching connor be poked and prodded any longer, but markus was stuck, unable to tear his eyes away from the opened paneling of connor's head and torso, his artificial skin peeled away as messed with wires and other parts.  
  
markus watched one of the medics walk away from the table, wiping her hands before making her way to the door and he immediately straightened up, ready to hear whatever she had to say, hank standing from his chair as soon as the door opened and making his way over, "find anything?" he asked and the medic sighed a little, adjusting her glasses, "we....don't know much."  
  
"what do you know?"  
  
"all of of the testing for android viruses came back negative, but something is clearly wrong with his systems as they are providing him with no error warnings despite the fact that is thirium levels were below seventy when you brought him here."  
  
"his system thinks everything is fine?" hank asked and she nodded, "according to his personal scanner, everything is functioning perfectly. we're still running tests for any viruses--"  
  
"i thought you said the virus tests came back negative."  
  
" _those_ tests did, but we need to run more tests before we can figure out what's scrambling his coding."  
  
markus looked through the window, seeing the medic inside cleaning thirium away from connor's face as the liquid leaked from his nose, "well......what's exactly happening to him?" he asked before turning back to look at the medic in front of him and she took a breath, "........he's in the process of completely shutting down."  
  


**•◇•**   
  


connor took a deep breath, knowing that his body didn't need it but the urge to do so was incredibly strong as his chest ached, feeling like someone was applying way too much pressure, sitting up in a hospital bed with the back plating of his head opened up, wires connecting his "brain" to a monitor that an android anatomy expert was looking at.  
  
"we don't even know if this will work."  
  
"it's our only option at this point."  
  
connor looked to where hank and markus were standing, the android giving him a comforting smile as they waited for the woman who's name connor couldn't recall to finish typing behind him; she was preparing to put him in a brief shut down so that she could dissect his system's coding more thoroughly than the other medics before, this having the risk of connor's systems wiping as they searched for the destructive virus corrupting him, needing to wipe that away and if it was attaching too strongly then everything would vanish with it.  
  
"how.....how likely is it that this goes to shit?" hank asked and connor grimaced, not wanting to lose himself, having already been through a "near-death" experience before and he really didn't want it to actually happen this time, "it's.....it's a high risk, but the likelihood of this ending well is higher." the woman reassured, although she sounded a little unsure herself.  
  
god, this was the worst.  
  
"let me know when you're ready, connor."  
  
connor clenched his fists in his lap, not wanting to give her permission but knowing that if he didn't then he'd die eventually anyway once his system destroyed itself, closing his eyes and taking another deep breath, the action taking more effort than it should and he felt a hand on his own, a wave of warm confort washing over him and he, opened his eyes to see markus crouching down in front of him, skin on his hand peeled away so that he could interface and give connor some much needed comfort.  
  
connor gave the android a gentle smile, hoping that it wasn't pathetic looking, and giving markus' hand a grateful squeeze before letting go, "i'm ready." he spoke and markus didn't move, staying in front of him, hearing the woman counting down from three and by the time she said the number one, everything had gone dark.  
  
and then when his systems came back online an hour later, connor didn't feel pain.

**Author's Note:**

> don't mind the spelling/grammar mistakes. i'm lazy by nature and don't pay attention to things.


End file.
